Online Tools: Suggestions from TeachersFirst

This editor's choice collection offers timesavers and organizational tools for teachers. They include "utility" sites for teaching tasks such as seating charts, rubrics, and certificates. Other tools facilitate parent communication, such as text messaging or online conferencing. Our editors have also hand picked simple, timesaving, creative tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. These tools organize to-do lists (for yourself or for students), convert files, remove ads from web pages, check web site readability, write a one-time blog, generate an online signup sheet, make a simple graphic organizer or chart, create online corkboards or stickies, and much more. Mark your Favorites using your free TeachersFirst membership, so you can find them quickly!
For a full listing of reviewed "creation" tools by category, try the TeachersFirst Edge, today's hottest tools for creating teacher and student projects online.
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Tableizer! - Danny Sanchez
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): blogs (83), data (158), spreadsheets (21)
In the Classroom
Tableizer is an excellent tool for easily displaying data on your web page or blog. Use anytime you want to display information from a spreadsheet. Share with students for use in displaying lab results, scientific data, budgets, etc. Use this to list a schedule of events, requirements, etc. in a clear table on your class blog.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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FatURL - FatURL.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (68), organizational skills (119)
In the Classroom
Use FatUrl to create one url (a page) with links for all the sites for a particular unit instead of creating a long list on your website or blog. Have students create and share their own page of links with resources for research. Use FatUrl to share professional links with colleagues quickly and easily. In primary grades, use this tool to share classroom favorites or topic-specific practice sites for students to access at home via one click. If your students create online presentations, use this site to share up to 36 at once with families. (Of course anytime you are posting student work online, be certain to have parental permission!)Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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dotEPUB - Xavier Badosa
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (179)
In the Classroom
What a great find for BYOD programs! Use dotEPUB for students to take content from your course blog or website and put it on their e-readers for easy access wherever they go. Have students download informational texts from web sites to annotate in their e-reader software as you build comprehension and "close reading" skills a la CCSS. Elementary teachers will need to help students learn to use this tool. Use dotEPUB to create an ePub portfolio of your students' blogging efforts. In Spanish class, convert your website into an e-book for students to practice language learning. Make ePubs of any web content for portability and annotation tools available on e-readers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Venspired Free Posters - Krissy Venosdale
Grades
K to 12tag(s): posters (41)
In the Classroom
Start your school year out by using some of these posters to decorate your classroom or hallways. Print pages to add inspiration in student notebooks or for motivational bulletin boards. Have students create their own posters after viewing the blog. Looking for a classroom theme? View the options available to enhance your room. Use the posters as a theme for the day, week, or month. Discuss the poster during class meetings. Relate the messages to character traits from reading selections, historical figures, or famous people. If you have a special class event, upload the images to Flickr (reviewed here) to make posters about it. Secondary teachers can create custom posters using their own digital pictures from historic sites or even roller coasters (for physics class).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Timer-Tab - brillout.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (147), counting (110), time (140)
In the Classroom
There are many uses for this practical online tool. At the beginning of the school year, display on your interactive whiteboard or projector to time or countdown any classroom activity. That will get the students in the habit of checking how much time they have left. Use this tool for students to practice speeches, or to limit time for a quiz or spelling test. Use the countdown feature for timing the rotations from center to center. Use the timer for reading fluency exercises or physical education warm-ups. Employ the count-down as a clever classroom management tool on your computer screen when you want the class to settle down for directions or to transition to the next subject. Students may even want to use this tool for themselves. Have a timer tab open in your web browser as you display web sites on a projector or web based activities on an interactive whiteboard so students know how much more time they have to read the site or complete the activity. Have kindergarten students practice counting along with the watch!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Proofread Grammar Base - GrammarBase.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): grammar (208), plagiarism (36), spelling (165)
In the Classroom
Use Proofread Grammar Base on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to demonstrate grammar and spelling mistakes and proper corrections. Share with students as a resource for editing and proofing written work. Proofread Grammar Base does not provide corrections, so that is left up to you (or your students) to come up with the proper edits on their own. Start using Proofread Grammar Base at the beginning of the school year and have students keep track of the type of errors they make. This way you can see when you need to teach a whole class mini lesson for a particular grammar concept.Comments
It will check for mistakes, but the report that goes with it appears to be only a free trial.Deborah, VT, Grades: 7 - 12
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Citelighter - Saad Alam
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): browser (5), citations (37), organizational skills (119)
In the Classroom
Share with students as a resource for saving and organizing web material. The clipping feature allows students to highlight the key information from a page so that a few days down the road they're not wondering why they bookmarked a webpage. The bibliography tools help students properly format their Works Cited pages. And searching the Knowledge Cards is like opening to the bibliography of a good book and finding out what the author used in his or her research. Use this tool to help keep your students (or even yourself) organized! Note that a clever student could essentially "grab" pieces of text from throughout the web and "write" a paper that way. Make sure you teach plagiarism lessons about paraphrasing and proper citation of sources so students use this easy tool properly!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bingo Baker - Matt Johnson
Grades
K to 8tag(s): printables (39), worksheets (62)
In the Classroom
Use Bingo Baker to create Bingo games to review any topic with small groups. Instead of telling the word that is on the Bingo card give the definition (so students must find the term) or a math problem whose answer is among those on the card. Create sight word bingo cards for younger students. This is a great review tool for science or social studies. Put a short description of a vocabulary word into the space. Tell students the name of the vocabulary word and see if they can find it on the Bingo card. Or do the reverse and write the vocabulary word on the card and read the definition to the class. Encourage students to create bingo games for each other as review or to engage the audience during oral presentations. Learning support teachers can create them together with students as an engaging way to review. World language teachers (and students) can create bingo cards to reinforce vocabulary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wordmark.it - wordmark.it
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Share with students to use when preparing any presentation or document. Use this site when creating items for your class blog or website. Be sure to save this tool in your favorites to use for professional projects and lessons!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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QuizBean - Bluehouse Group
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
This site would be great for review in many subject areas. Share how to use this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Create a QuizBean for early elementary students to identify nouns and verbs, animals and plants, vertebrates and invertebrates, healthy or unhealthy foods, etc. Have students identify Union or Confederate items for Civil War studies. In Science challenge students to categorize animals as mammal or reptile. Pretest your gifted students and allow them to "test out" of material already known. Challenge students to create their own QuizBean for others to use for review and post a link to the quizzes on the class website or blog. Create this-or-that quizzes for ESL/ELL students as they learn English, and then as they start writing to identify proper subject verb and subject pronoun agreement.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bubble Test Form Generator - Answer Sheets - Catpin Productions
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): assessment (118), test prep (95)
In the Classroom
Are your students in trouble with the bubble? Provide them with a daily double bubble form. Introduce your students to the many different styles of testing early in the school year. Create forms that mirror graphics, a feelings chart, fact/opinion, music staffs, and many other options. Go beyond the bubble and have students analyze assessment results. Tired of grading? Use the registration marks to create forms for automated testing machines. Students can self-correct using test keys. Get instant results for faster analysis. Give your younger students regular practice with bubbles by creating a "lunch count" bubble sheet students fill in "packing" or "buying" or a daily attendance check in sheet.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fotor - Photo Editing Made Easy - fotor.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): collages (18), comics and cartoons (61), editing (74), images (279), photography (155)
In the Classroom
Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use on class blogs, wikis, or sites. In primary grades, this tool could be useful for teachers to use to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Consider making them into a collage and posting it on your webpage. Share the editing process with your younger students using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Edit together! Encourage older students to use this site themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use the editor to edit pictures to fit styles of pictures when doing historical reports or to set a mood. Use caption bubbles for the photos themselves to tell the stories. Have students annotate or label Creative Commons online images of cells, structures of an animal, and much more. Share the results (with an image credit) on your class wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Chart Jungle - Wendy Shepherd
Grades
K to 4This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (200), classroom management (147), flash cards (45), handwriting (19), homework (43), organizational skills (119), presidents (124), printables (39), time (140)
In the Classroom
Use Chart Jungle as a resource for charts for use throughout the school year. Familiarize yourself with this site at the beginning of the school year. Use the reading chart for students to record the minutes spent reading at home. Use the homework charts to help your students stay organized. Share the flash cards link with parents to use at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Word Search Builder - PedagoNet.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): puzzles (205), spelling (165), word study (78)
In the Classroom
Use this resource to help students review spelling words or other content related vocabulary. Change the font to a larger size and print it out for young children or students that have vision issues. Have students create word searches for other students to take. Learning support teachers might want to have partners create word searches as a review activity for terms.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Quick Picture Tools - QuickPictureTools.com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this site for easy image editing for you and your students for any classroom projects. No registration is required, and images are saved directly to your computer for immediate use. Make simple reminder posters or classroom signs using the text emboss tool. Invite students to create image/text combinations for bulletin boards, such as types of leaves or insects. Make introductions of students as a first day of school activity using digital pictures and the text tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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RideSurfboard Web Page Browser - Ryan O'Donnell and Aaron Wadler
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): browser (5)
In the Classroom
Teachers with iPads in their classrooms will probably benefit most from this site. Create a link directly to SurfRider.com on classroom ipads for students to view websites in this page-flip format. Any computer with Safari could use this website also. This site could be used to make the content of a website more palatable for students easily distracted by "flashy" websites. Learning support teachers might want to try this presentation of informational texts with their students to see if it improves their comprehension. If your students have blogs, try reading them using this tool for a very "professional" look.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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BarryFunEnglish Tools - BarryFunEnglish. com
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): classroom management (147)
In the Classroom
Use the free registration option to sign up for the site. Bookmark and use this site as a tool for classroom management, such as a way for choosing random students, keeping score, stopwatch, and others. All of the tools are perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Open them in separate windows so that you can drag off to the side if doing an on-screen activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CloudMagic - Webyog, Inc.
Grades
K to 12tag(s): organizational skills (119), search engines (58)
In the Classroom
"It's in here somewhere!" Use this site as a teacher organization tool for your classroom resources, parent contacts, and more. Are you trying to find your updated class list or notes for your Algebra 2 review? Search for class list or Algebra 2 to find it without having to search through all of your online and email accounts. Share this site with older students as a resource for organizing and finding their online resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Textivate - TaskMagic
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): grammar review (41), process writing (46), sequencing (29), summarizing (16), word order (4), word study (78)
In the Classroom
Create Textivates to introduce or review any topic. Type in a summary of information and have students place chunks of sentences in order or choose the missing word option for students to insert missing words. Instantly create sequencing activities to build comprehension and vocabulary skills. Paste in a passage from a well-known text and experiment with word order. What would happen if you tried to rearrange the wording in a famous poem? Paste in text during a world language class so students can rearrange words to practice vocabulary, word order, and various skills. Use the embed feature to insert a Textivate activity for homework. Create activities for small group practice on an interactive whiteboard center. Have students create their own Textivate activities to summarize information. Share them with classmates to complete activities. Learning support teachers can have students create and swap review activities. Be sure to share this one with parents for them to use at home for review fun!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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UnShortenMe - Unshort.me
Grades
K to 12tag(s): internet safety (116)
In the Classroom
Use this to access sites especially those shared with your PLN through RSS or Twitter. Many times, the original link is not blocked but the shortened URL is because of the shortener service's url. Save this tool in your favorites to access when needed.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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